Best Cities For African Americans Working In STEM Jobs: Science, Tech, Engineering And Math

Some of the largest technology companies have attracted all kinds of well-deserved negative media attention — the kind they don’t like — for employing too few Black workers.

Some of these companies tried blaming the recruitment pipeline, saying there aren’t enough Black workers graduating with the right degrees and applying for tech jobs. Yet the data show that there are many more Black students majoring in computer science and engineering than work in tech jobs.

Silicon Valley tech firms are among the worst offenders when it comes to representation of Black workers.

Tech workers at Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Twitter are on average 56 percent white, 37 percent Asian, 3 percent Hispanic and 1 percent Black, according to the companies’ diversity reports, New York Times reported.

At the top 25 undergraduate programs, nearly 9 percent of graduates are underrepresented minorities, according to Education Department data analyzed by Maya A. Beasley, a sociologist at the University of Connecticut.

STEM jobs — science, technology, engineering and math — are some of the most desirable in the U.S.

SmartAsset, a New York City-based financial technology company, produces an annual list of the best cities for diversity in STEM. The company provides online personal finance advice based on data.

The Best Cities For Diversity In STEM report 2017 edition looks at data for the 50 cities with the largest STEM workforce, analyzing this workforce to see who has the biggest racial diversity and gender diversity. This is the third annual version of this study.

SmartAsset ranked cities for overall racial and ethnic diversity (Asian, white, Latino/Hispanic and Black) and it also ranked cities by gender. Data for both metrics came from the Census Bureau’s 2016 1-Year American Community Survey.

We’ve focused here on the U.S. cities included in the SmartAsset report where Black workers are well represented in STEM jobs. We’ve also included cities on the list where Black workers are poorly represented in STEM jobs.

Photo: Anita Sanikop

7 Major U.S. Cities Where African Americans Are Well Represented In STEM Jobs

7. Nashville, Tennessee: 15 percent

About 15 percent of the STEM workforce in Nashville is Black.

6. Dallas, Texas: 18 percent

About 18 percent of the STEM workforce in Dallas is Black.

5. Philadelphia: 18 percent

About 18 percent of the STEM workforce in Philadelphia is Black.

4. Charlotte, North Carolina: 19 percent

About 19 percent of the STEM workforce in Charlotte is Black.

3. Washington, D.C. 19 percent

About 19 percent of the STEM workforce in Washington, D.C. is Black.

2. Atlanta, Georgia: 24 percent

About 24 percent of the STEM workforce in Atlanta is Black.

1. Baltimore, Maryland: 29 percent

About 29 percent of the STEM workforce in Baltimore is Black.

11 Major U.S. Cities Where African Americans Are Poory Represented In STEM Jobs

11. Los Angeles, California: 6 percent

About — percent of the STEM workforce in — is Black.

10. Oakland: 6 percent

About — percent of the STEM workforce in — is Black.

9. Sacramento: 5 percent

About — percent of the STEM workforce in — is Black.

8. Phoenix: 5 percent

About — percent of the STEM workforce in — is Black.

7. San Antonio, Texas: 5 percent

About — percent of the STEM workforce in — is Black.

6. Jersey, NJ: 5 percent

About — percent of the STEM workforce in — is Black.

5. San Diego: less than 5 percent

Less than — percent of the STEM workforce in — is Black.

4. San Francisco: less than 5 percent

Less than — percent of the STEM workforce in — is Black.

3. Irvine, California: less than 5 percent

Less than — percent of the STEM workforce in — is Black.

2. Seattle: less than 5 percent

Less than — percent of the STEM workforce in — is Black.

1. San Jose: less than 5 percent

About Dana Sanchez

Dana Sanchez was born in South Africa and is a U.S. citizen. After working in advertising, she went back to school and earned a master's degree in journalism from the University of South Florida. As a business writer, she won regional and national writing awards. As editor of a daily newspaper, she coordinated staff writers, freelancers and photographers in the fast-paced environment of daily news. Dana was an editor at Moguldom Media Group for four years, helping to build and manage a team of staff and freelance writers. She works now on Moguldom.com for Nubai Ventures. A long-distance hiker and cyclist, she writes about the business of technology.

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